Yes, we should treat wildfires like other natural disasters. But almost all natural disasters are as bad as they are due to poor planning. Large parts of our cities and suburbs are built in flood-prone areas, within forests that burn regularly, or on our beautiful barrier islands that routinely take the hardest hits from hurricanes. Tornadoes wander around less predictably, but we can build for this and any other conditions if we would just try.

As for our local disasters — fires — we can choose to not place our families in harm’s way by visiting the forest rather than living there. Our friends, whose homes are strung up and down Front Range canyons — waterways subject to damage from murderous flash floods — are re-building again in the same spots. This is not only unwise but costly. At least after your forest burns, it will take a number of years before the trees and brush grow and are once again a beautiful threat.

Mike Kephart, Denver

This letter was published in the July 20 edition.

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